Note: Even though the monitor itself costs Rs 48,278 on Amazon.com, the shipping and handling plus the import fee deposit makes the total Rs 70,258.
MEMORY
With each passing day, memory is increasing in capacity and decreasing in prices. We are at a point in time where we have 1 TB SSDs and 6 TB HDDs. Here is a guide to help you select the correct RAM, hard drive and SSD for your rig according to your budget and needs.
Note: Since we cannot possibly cover every type of RAM and HDD, this article is based on the assumption that your motherboard supports DDR3 RAM and SATA hard drives. Do check your motherboard’s compatibility before purchasing.
RAM
For the tech noobs here, RAM is basically the number of programs you can have running together, but the data on the RAM only stays till your computer is powered on. When the electricity goes from your RAM, the data on it goes as well. Without getting technical, the more RAM you have, the more programs you can run simultaneously. In theory, a faster frequency means better performance. Most people might not even notice a difference between 1333 MHz and 1600 MHz or higher, but some do and it matters to them.
We would suggest a minimum of 8 GB RAM for your gaming rig as most of the upcoming games would recommend that much.
Low Tier
We start with 2 GB DDR3 – 1333MHz/1600MHz RAM sticks. You should be buying at least three of these. 4 GB RAM is mostly considered to be enough for most of the games of today, but you’ll be better off with at least 6 GB RAM to make sure you’re prepped for future game, though 8 GB would be preffered.
- G.Skill NS/NT DDR3 – Rs 1,449 for 1x2 GB 1333 MHz – available in up to 8 GB sticks
- Corsair ValueSelect DDR3 – Rs 1,599 for 1x2 GB 1333 MHz – available in up to 8 GB sticks
- Kingston ValueRAM DDR3 – Rs 1,949 for 1x2 GB 1333 MHz – available in up to 8 GB sticks
Mid Tier
Let’s move up to 4 GB RAM sticks. There isn’t much difference other than the fact that each RAM stick has double the capacity and hence more expandability options. You could also find RAM bundles, where you would get two 4 GB sticks, and for a dual/triple/quad channel build, try opting for a bundle instead of buying single sticks of the same RAM.
- G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 – Rs 2,754 for 1x4 GB 1066 MHz – available in up to 4 GB sticks
- Corsair XMS3 DDR3 – Rs 2,895 for 1x4 GB 1600 MHz – available in up to 8 GB sticks
- G.Skill Sniper DDR3 – Rs 3,225 for 1x4 GB 1600 MHz – available in up to 8GB sticks
Top Tier
Let’s double the capacity again. We now move up to 8 GB and higher RAM. For most gamers, things like frequency, timings, etc will not matter. What will matter is the capacity.
- Corsair Vengeance DDR3 – Rs 5,694 for 1x8 GB 1600 MHz – available in up to 8 GB sticks
- Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 – Rs 5,745 for 2x4 GB 1600 MHz – available in up to 8 GB sticks
- G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3 – Rs 5,950 for 1x8 GB 1600 MHz – available in up to 8 GB sticks
Enthusiast
These RAM modules are here because there are people who like to spend and simply want to go all out. These are mostly enthusiasts, who like to overclock and push their hardware above and beyond the on-paper specifications.
- Corsair Dominator GT – Rs 6,721 for 2x4 GB 1866 MHz – available in up to 8 GB sticks
- Corsair Dominator Platinum – Rs 8,002 for 2x4 GB 1866 MHz – available in up to 8 GB sticks
- G.Skill TridentX – Rs 14,500 for 2x4 GB 2400 MHz – available in up to 8GB sticks
HDD
HDDs are your ‘secondary storage’ devices in technical terms. They are for mass storage needs. Even with all the SSDs coming up, HDDs are still important if you want storage space. Hard drives are available in up to 6 TB capacity. In comparison to SSDs, you do compromise in terms of performance and speed, but they make up for that with their price and capacity. Hard drives are not that complicated, but to simply make one understand, they have moving disks where all the data is stored. How fast these disks can spin, i.e., their RPM, decides how fast a hard drive will perform. Typical hard drives are either 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM. Data transfer takes place over SATA, which is, in a way, like USB, but for internal drives. SATA 3 is capable of transfers at 6Gb/s and SATA 2 is capable of transfers at 3Gb/s.
Low Tier
There is a basic/value line of products in nearly every category. These hard drives will not offer any special features or speeds, but will simply work. They can be a good combination when paired with an SSD or another fast drive for boot.
- Western Digital Caviar Green – Rs 3,370 for 500 GB (5400 RPM – SATA 6Gb/s) – available in up to 4 TB drives
- Seagate Barracuda – Rs 3,425 for 500 GB (7200 RPM – SATA 6Gb/s) – available in up to 3 TB drives
Mid Tier
These HDDs are more in capacity and a higher model than the ones above. They will offer more performance and better reliability.
- Seagate Barracuda – Rs 3,905 for 1 TB (7200 RPM – SATA 6Gb/s) – available in up to 3 TB drives
- Western Digital Caviar Blue – Rs 3,960 for 1 TB (7200 RPM – SATA 6Gb/s) – available in up to 1 TB drives
- Toshiba SSHD – Rs 5,099 for 500 GB (5400 RPM – SATA 6Gb/s) – available in up to 1TB drives (can be used in a laptop as well)
Top Tier
The HDDs here are the top-of-the-line offerings from their respective brands and offer the best performance in consumer hard drives.
- Western Digital Caviar Black – Rs 6,065 for 1 TB (7200 RPM – SATA 6Gb/s) – available in up to 4 TB drives
- Seagate Barracuda – Rs 7,585 for 3 TB (7200 RPM – SATA 6Gb/s) – available in up to 3 TB drives
- Seagate Hybrid Drive – Rs 8,089 for 2 TB (7200 RPM – SATA 6Gb/s) – available in up to 4 TB drives
Enthusiast
This hard drive is as close as a single hard drive gets to an SSD in terms of speed and performance, and way below the price tag of an SSD, with a lot more capacity
- Western Digital VelociRaptor – Rs 15,750 for 1 TB (10,000 RPM – SATA 6Gb/s) – available in up to 1 TB drives
SSD
SSDs are also used for storage, but unlike HDDs, they do not have any moving parts. They are all chips and that makes them really fast in comparison to a traditional HDD. But with great performance, comes great price. The problem with SSDs is that they are very expensive as of now if you compare price-to-capacity with a HDD. So the way to go right now for most of us is to get a low capacity SSD as a boot drive, and a higher capacity HDD for mass storage. You can upgrade your laptop’s hard drive to an SSD as well since they are of the same size.
Low Tier
Just because this is the low tier, it does not mean that these drives would not perform well. These SSDs would not be as fast as some of the others, but they will still be much than regular hard drives.
- Kingston SSDNow V300 – Rs 3,599 for 60 GB
- ADATA Premier SP900 – Rs 3,999 for 64 GB
- Corsair Force – Rs 4,833 for 60 GB
Mid Tier
This is the point of no return! Once you start using a good SSD on a regular basis, you will wonder how you ever lived without one. 120 GB is the minimum you should consider putting in a laptop with only one drive.
- Samsung 840 EVO – Rs 5,996 for 120 GB
- Corsair Force LS – Rs 6,399 for 120 GB
- OCZ Agility 3 – Rs 7,485 for 120 GB
Top Tier
These SSDs, like all other top-tier products, are the better performing ones from the respective brands. If you need the speed and have the budget, these will make you happy.
- Corsair Force GS – Rs 13,299 for 240 GB
- Samsung 840 Pro – Rs 13,589 for 256 GB
- Corsair Neutron GTX – Rs 16,199 for 240 GB
- OCZ Vertex 3 – Rs 16,525 for 240 GB
Enthusiast
Looking for the performance of an SSD and the storage capacity of a hard drive in one? These are your best options, but be prepared to pay a premium.
- Samsung 840 EVO – Rs 38,990 for 1 TB
- Crucial M550 – Rs 35,889 for 1 TB
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